But now an unexpected element has been introduced into the fray. An overhauled two-year budget approved Tuesday by the House Finance and Appropriations Committee includes language that will prohibit sex education instructors from endorsing anything other than abstinence as acceptable behavior.

The measure also would prohibit handing out contraception on school property. Also, a parent could sue an instructor who violates the provision and receive damages and attorney fees. A court could issue a civil fine against the instructor of up to $5,000.

"I am very disappointed that we continue to use some medieval approaches to educating our children and embed them in the budget," said Rep. Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat. Rep. John Patrick Carney, a Columbus Democrat, berated lawmakers across the aisle for stifling the distribution of condoms. "Evidence-based health care, watch out, because the Ohio House Republicans are on the warpath," Carney declared.

&lt;a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/7043431/"&gt;What is the best way to teach sex education to children?&lt;/a&gt;

“Today the Ohio House Finance Committee voted to send our state back to the 1950s. The Ohio House is doing everything they can to restrict access to reproductive health care and medically accurate information that help Ohioans live healthy lives. Governor Kasich can stop these dangerous attacks on women’s health care. We need him to speak out against these budget provisions and to line-item veto these dangerous measures when they reach his desk.”

"It's a very, very, very wise preventative bill," said Mosack, who monitors sex education programs throughout the country. "Our legislature recognized that in students' classes they are being exposed to explicit sexual activities."

Ohio certainly isn't the alone in proposing more restrictions on sex education. According to the Guttmacher Institute, in states where sex education is taught, 37 require that abstinence information be included and 26 require it be stressed. (See document at end of story.) Eighteen states and the District of Columbia require sex education include information on contraception, but none requires it be stressed. Nineteen states require that instruction on the importance of engaging in sexual activity only within marriage be provided.

Ohio House Committee Finance and Appropriations Chairman Ron Amstutz, when asked what motivated GOP lawmakers to propose the sex education changes, said he didn't "have much to offer." He said he would have to take another look at the bill's language. "There's been a lot of questions about that," Amstutz said.

Sexual education programs lacking in comprehensive information prevent young adults from fully educating themselves about their sexual health – knowledge that should include their contraceptive options, risks associated with sexual behaviors, and ways to reduce risk. ... Giving young people the tools they need to avoid STDs — not just the tools we personally agree with — ensures that whenever young adults decide to have sex, they don't end up doing it unprotected — with neither a contraceptive nor accurate information about how to reduce their risk of getting an STD.

This anecdotal evidence alone would suggest that Mississippi kids need proper sex education, but the actual data bears this out. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the 2011 Mississippi Youth Risk Behavior Survey last June. The report revealed what Mississippians already know -- teens are having sex. 58 percent of high school aged students have had intercourse (and 75 percent of seniors) -- 12 percent before the age of 13 -- and 35 percent of high schoolers used no protection.

Abstinence-only sex education is a "common-sense" issue and is supported by most parents in the United States, says Valerie Huber of the Washington Examiner:

Critics have mischaracterized abstinence education as a religiously motivated and politically conservative hot-button issue that has no place in public schools. But a recent survey paints a different picture, showing abstinence education is a women's issue, a Hispanic issue, an African-American issue, a health issue and a common-sense issue. It enjoys support across ethnic groups, age demographics and political affiliations -- including Obama Democrats.

The evidence suggests that many abstinence-only programs have little impact on teenage sexual behavior, just as their critics long insisted. But most sex education programs of any kind have an ambiguous effect, at best, on whether and how teens have sex. The abstinence-based courses that social conservatives champion produce unimpressive results — but so do the contraceptive-oriented programs that liberals tend to favor. ... What is taught in the classroom is vastly less important than the matrix of family, culture and economics: the values parents impart and the example that they set, the friends teenagers make and the activities they join, and the cross-cutting effects of wealth, health and self-esteem.

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